One Summer in Santa Fe

by Molly Evans

  “Sounds great. What time?”

  “I’ll pick you up at six, we’ll have dinner, then go.”

  Just then the paging system overhead called him back to the ER, and Piper didn’t see him the rest of the day.

  When she arrived home on Friday night, she raced to the shower, peeling her scrubs off as she went. Dashing by the phone, she noticed a message flashing on the answering-machine, but decided to get ready before checking it.

  As she scrubbed the day off her skin, she stopped as the water dripped over her face. What if that had been Taylor calling, canceling their date? Just like Derek. She didn’t want to get dressed up if he’d had to cancel. Just like Derek. Damn. Memories of the past tried to squeeze in, and she pushed them back where they belonged. Just like Derek. She grabbed a towel and ran out to the answering-machine, pushed the button and listened. It was from Elizabeth, who wanted to talk. Later. She ran back to the shower to finish getting ready, relieved that it hadn’t been Taylor canceling. She’d been looking forward to this night more than she’d wanted to admit.

  She had just patted her hair into place and slipped into black heels when the doorbell rang. Heart thrumming in anticipation, she opened the door.

  Her mouth about dropped open and the breath in her throat froze. Taylor stood there in a black suit, holding a single rose. Warmth rose up within her and tears nearly flooded her eyes at the sweet gesture. “Oh. Hello.” Breathe in. Breathe out. Don’t faint.

  He stepped forward, nearly overwhelming her in the small confines of the apartment. He’d never looked so good and heat pulsed in small waves from somewhere behind her heart. He was doing no good for her resolve to keep it casual between them.

  “Hello, yourself.” He held out a hand, and she took it. With a quick move of his arm, he spun her around. “You look fabulous, Piper,” he said as his gaze devoured her.

  Smoothing the luxurious satin fabric down over her hips, she smiled her thanks and blushed at the compliment. She did feel fabulous. More indulgence she hadn’t allowed herself. “So do you.”

  “Let’s go.”

  “Are you going to tell me where?” she asked as he escorted her to the car.

  “Dinner first, then the surprise.”

  “Okay. I’m yours.”

  Taylor picked up her hand and kissed her knuckles, his eyes full of silken secrets and passionate promises. “Alex is at a sleepover tonight.”

  A tingle of desire swept over her at the thought of having Taylor to herself for an entire night. Her mouth went dry and she licked her lips. “That sounds fun. The cousins again?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “They certainly come in handy now and then.”

  After a fabulous dinner of New Mexican cuisine, Taylor drove to a familiar-looking place. With the summer twilight as a backdrop, Piper recognized the lights up ahead.

  “We’re going to the opera?” she asked, and sat straight up in her seat, her eyes wide, bubbles of surprise shooting through her like champagne.

  “We’re going to the opera. I promise it won’t cross your eyes, though.”

  “What is it? What is it?” she asked, eager as a child, and patted him on the arm.

  “Mama Mia.”

  “Oh!” She flopped back against her seat.

  “What’s wrong? Don’t you like that? I know it’s a musical, not an opera, but—”

  “Oh, yes. I’ve been wanting to see that for ages, but I’ve never been in the right city at the right time.”

  “Then I’m glad I picked this show.” He found a parking place, then turned to face her.

  “Thank you, Taylor.” She stroked his cheek and tried not to be too overwhelmed that he had chosen this evening for her. No one had so gone out of their way to treat her in such a very long time. What a sweet gesture. She gave a mental sigh as she looked at Taylor. Wasn’t it time she did something, took some time, for herself? Putting her life on hold for eight years was long enough.

  He popped a quick kiss on her cheek. “You’re welcome.” Although going out of his way to take someone on such a special night wasn’t something he usually did, this seemed the right thing for Piper. And surprising himself, Taylor wanted to do it. They might not have much time together as her contract lasted only six weeks, they could have a good time while she was here and then say their goodbyes. There was no harm in that. They were adults, they could deal with it.

  After the show, on the way home, Piper’s cell phone rang. After a few seconds, she gripped it in her hand. “What?” She sat upright in the seat, intently focused on the conversation. “No, no, no. You can’t do that, Elizabeth. I won’t allow it.”

  A horrified gasp sprang from her throat. “What do you mean, ‘I don’t have the right’? I have the right because I’m your sister, and I’m paying for your school and—”

  Piper snapped the phone shut and stared straight ahead, trying to collect her thoughts and settle her breathing, embarrassed that Taylor had witnessed the exchange.

  “You hung up on her?” Taylor asked.

  “Uh, no. Other way around.”

  “Something you want to share?” he asked.

  The sound of his voice was so gentle that tears tried to prick her eyes, but she resisted the urge to play the delicate female. She was tougher than that, and she’d figure this out. Somehow. “I can’t believe she’s doing this.” Piper tucked her phone into her purse and clutched it in her lap. “She’s ruining everything I worked for.”

  “How?”

  “She’s leaving school for a man! She’s only twenty years old. How can she do that?” Piper covered her face in her hands, the joy of the evening gone in an instant.

  Taylor turned the car into her apartment complex and parked in front of her building. “I’m sorry. Do you want to talk about it?” He let the question hang. “This was rather unexpected, I take it.”

  “Yes, it is.” Piper unbuckled her seat belt, but didn’t get out of the car. “Why don’t you come up, and I’ll make some coffee?”

  Taylor followed her into the apartment and watched as she puttered around the kitchen in her evening gown. This fretful woman wasn’t the Piper he knew, but he wanted to help her. Even if it just meant listening. Something new for him, but he was game to try. Too many times he’d bolted at the first sign of feminine emotions. He didn’t need them, didn’t want them, and he damned sure wasn’t going to play games. But this time was different. He couldn’t just walk away from her. Piper had helped him out when he’d needed it. He could help her out a little tonight without giving himself a hernia. “Why don’t you go change, and then we’ll have coffee?” He nudged her away from the sink to finish the job himself.

  “But…”

  Wide blue eyes filled with distress, worry, and something else, maybe relief. He turned her and gave her a little push toward her bedroom. “Go. I know my way around a coffeepot.” But not his way around a woman’s tears. Those unnerved him in an instant. He’d rather have an ER full of hostile patients than one upset woman on his hands. That was enough to make any determined bachelor run for the hills.

  “You’re still in your suit.” Piper’s eyes were bruised looking and defeated. “You probably ought to go home. I’m not good company in any case. I’m sorry. This was a bad idea.”

  “It’s okay. I always carry spare sweats in my car. I’ll change, too, then we’ll talk.”

  Minutes later, both back in casual attire, Piper poured large steaming mugs of coffee for both of them. Curling herself into a corner of the couch and tucking her bare feet beneath her, she waited for Taylor to join her. “This wasn’t the ending of the night I had hoped for.”

  “Me, either. But at least your eyes didn’t go crossed tonight, right?” he asked, trying to tease a smile out of her.

  It worked, and her lips curved upward, but the movement evaporated quickly. “You’re right. I just wish that phone call had come a day later.”

  Taylor could imagine. He’d rather have had Piper in his arms
all night long while they discovered pleasurable moments. One afternoon of intimacy with her wasn’t going to be enough. She had invaded his day, as well as his night dreams, and he’d woken up in a sweat more than once in the last week. She’d had a more profound effect on him than any other woman he’d been with. Normally, he would have escaped that sort of entanglement quickly, but for now it worked.

  “So tell me why she’s leaving school for a man.” He sipped and watched.

  Piper heaved out a sigh and focused on the rim of her cup. “She met this guy, Eduardo something-or-another the first day there. He’s got big dreams of having his own restaurant, apparently comes from a family with their own, so he thinks he knows it all already. He’s also abandoned school to jump in with both feet. She must really be smitten to go this far overboard.” Piper covered her face with her hand. “It wasn’t what they wanted.”

  Confused, Taylor frowned. “What who wanted?”

  “Our parents.” Piper sighed and looked up at him. “I made a promise when they died that I would see Elizabeth through school and set her up where she can be independent, where she’ll have an education and won’t be living in the gutter.”

  “You made a promise or they made you promise?”

  “I made the promise. They were already dead by then.” She shivered at the power of the memory.

  “What happened?” Taylor reached over and placed a hand on her leg in silent support.

  “They were killed in a car accident. Eight years ago on the way back from their second honeymoon.” Piper’s lower lip trembled a second as she spoke, then seemed to gain control of herself again.

  “I’m so sorry, Piper.” He moved closer to her and placed an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him for a moment, seeming to draw strength from the connection with his body, then straightened.

  “So am I.” The pain in her whisper said it all.

  “You’ve been the strong one your entire adult life, haven’t you?”

  “I’ve had to be. There was just the two of us, three including Aunt Ida.”

  “It’s made you stronger than I think you know.”

  “Our lives would have been completely different if they hadn’t died then.”

  “You’ve been raising your sister this whole time?” That amazed Taylor. Piper couldn’t have been more than a child herself, and then to have that responsibility thrust on her, as well as losing her parents. His respect for Piper jumped several notches. She was one tough woman. Taylor looked at his watch that still ticked down the minutes and seconds of his time with Alex. “I can barely deal with my nephew for six weeks and you’ve had the responsibility of actually raising your sister for, what, eight years now?”

  “Me and Aunt Ida. My mom’s sister. We lived with her while Elizabeth was in high school, and I was off on assignments earning money to keep her there and pay the mortgage. My parents didn’t have a guardianship set up, so when they died it fell to me by default as her closest living relative. I was of legal age. Just graduated from nursing school. There was no way I could just hand my sister over to the state, so for me there was no choice in the matter. Any plans I might have had came to a screeching halt.” All the fears she’d harbored over the years now came flooding back to her. She was older than Elizabeth, she was responsible. She’d had to make something of herself instantly so that her sister could, too. They had only each other as Aunt Ida was aging and would need care herself one day. More responsibility to come. She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around her legs, hugging them to her chest. “Maybe I need to go find her, talk to her.”

  “Maybe you need to let her cool down and call her tomorrow.”

  “How can you say that?” Piper demanded. “She could be endangering herself or trusting the wrong person! I don’t know anything about this man, and she’s going to take off with him to God knows where.”

  Taylor tugged at one of her hands until she let him take it. “Piper. She’s over the age of consent. There’s nothing you can do about it legally right now.”

  “I have to. I have to try.” She flung away a tear with her other hand. “I have to convince her to stay and not throw her life away.”

  “Why? Why is it up to you to live Elizabeth’s life for her? Why can’t she live her own life, have her own adventures like her big sister?”

  She tried to snatch her hand away, but he held it fast. “What are you talking about? I never ran off with a man, or abandoned my obligations. I did what I was supposed to do. I had no choice at all.”

  “And you resent her for having opportunities to be young and free that you never did?” he asked.

  “Taylor! How can you say such a thing? I love my sister—”

  “But you don’t want her to have the fun that you were denied at this age?”

  “That’s simply not true.” Wasn’t it? A flush of anger pulsed within her, replacing that warm, fuzzy feeling she’d had earlier. So much for the good vibes running between them. “Here she is with opportunities staring her in the face once she finishes school, but she’s going to abandon everything we’ve worked so hard for.”

  “Okay, look at it from where she’s sitting. Big sister Piper the breadwinner, the one who’s off on adventures all over the country while she’s left at home with Aunt Ida. How do you think that looks to an impressionable teenager? She’s had stars in her eyes for years thanks to you.”

  Piper opened her mouth as she stared at Taylor. “But…but…” As a teenager she had been eager to be out on her own, traveling, learning new things, going places she’d dreamed of for years, something that her parents had encouraged. The memory of that forgotten anticipation washed over her as she looked into Taylor’s face. Her sister had apparently worshiped her the same way that Alex worshiped Taylor. She just hadn’t seen it that way. And she didn’t like it. Alex was a child. Elizabeth certainly wasn’t.

  “She wants her own adventures, and may not be as patient as you want her to be for that. How old were you when you graduated nursing school?”

  “Nearly twenty-one. But I faced my responsibilities, I didn’t drop everyone and everybody to go do what I wanted.” A sigh huffed out of her. “I did what I had to do because I had no choice in the matter. Putting Elizabeth in the care of another was never a choice.”

  “Maybe you’d like to have her nice and safe, learning her trade, but she’s got other ideas, other dreams. Probably always had them, but didn’t share them with you, her superstar sister.” Taylor’s hand snuck over to her neck and began to knead the muscles there.

  Tears glistened in her eyes as pressure flooded her chest, the pain enormous. “Then I’ve failed my parents.”

  “No, you haven’t. I know a few things about failures and you’re not one of them.”

  “How can you know anything about failure, Mister I-Jump-Out-Of-Airplanes? Everything you do is magic.”

  Taylor gave a harsh laugh. “It didn’t used to be.” He sighed, not wanting to relive his past, but it seemed he was going to right now. This conversation was supposed to make Piper feel better, but maybe sharing some bit of himself would help her to put things into perspective. “I had an abusive father and a mother who could never stand up to him. There were no arguments. He was military and his word was law. I was never good enough for him. Nothing I ever did was right.”

  Taylor took a breath as the past washed over him. “I was really scrawny as a teenager and had little in the way of co-ordination skills, so my father believed I was weak in mind, as well as body. I was continually told I was inadequate, a failure in his eyes, and for a time I believed it, too. It wasn’t until I went to college that I saw things clearly. I wasn’t the one with the problem, my father was.” He paused at the memory. “My uncle was the one who helped me more than anyone. He never had kids, but he was a great uncle, a sounding board when I needed one, helped me do all those things my father should have been doing.” During those teen years, he’d sure needed it.

  “That’s terrible, Taylor.”
She touched him on the arm, some of her floundering compassion resurfacing for a desperate gasp of air. “Children shouldn’t be treated that way. No one should be.”

  “No, they shouldn’t. It’s not something I think about every day, but it is something that happened to me—shaped me, I guess. Gives me a lot more sympathy for people in the same boat.”

  “Your sister, too?” she asked.

  “Yeah. Caroline had a different kind of experience. Cooking, cleaning, sort of a child-sized servant. Married young to escape, but that turned out to be a mistake. Except for the Alex part. That was the best part of her marriage.”

  “She must be a very strong person, too.”

  “She is. We kind of banded together to survive.”

  “That’s why you’re so close, isn’t it?”

  “Yes.”

  Settling into her thoughts, Piper sipped her coffee and tried to make sense of what was happening, why she felt so out of control, why she needed such control over her sister’s life. Didn’t she have enough on her plate to worry about? “I put myself into the role of parent when I could have been a sister, a friend, to Elizabeth. I insisted on having things my way. She went to the schools I chose, we vacationed where I thought was right.” Piper snorted at a memory. “She wanted to go to Jamaica when she graduated from high school, I took her to Disneyland.”

  “Those are the small details. Right now, your sister needs your support.”

  “How am I supposed to give her my support if I don’t know what she’s doing and the things I do know she’s doing sound outrageous?”

  “To you, but not to her. Where is this restaurant going to be opened?”

  “I’m not sure. She’s in Phoenix, Arizona. I think Eduardo was from that area, too, so probably there.”

  “Why don’t you take a weekend and go spend it with her, see what she’s up to? Might do you some good to be with her a while. Get to know her as an adult, not the teenager who has grown up on you.” Taylor pressed a kiss to her temple, then rose, pulling her to her feet. “I’ll go home and let you do what you need to do.”